That Sea, the Gambler – Gregory Alan Isakov
That Sea, The Gambler is a song by Gregory Alan Isakov. The song was a part of an album of the same title, which he self-released in 2007. Known for his transcendental lyrics, Isakov outdid himself with the crafting of That Sea, The Gambler. The song manages to afford some tangible meaning for every listener even when the only thing certain about the lyrics is their intended lack of exactness.
Drawing directly from the images of sailing and gambling, Isakov weaves a story of a strong love that he may never find. In this song, Isakov exploited metaphors to juxtapose loving and gambling as two similar things. Because you don’t hold all the cards, you never know what you would find in both cases, if you find anything at all.
Gregory Alan Isakov
Isakov, originally from South Africa, was born on October 19, 1979, during the apartheid era. Isakov was still very young when his father started an electric engineering business in Philadelphia and moved his entire family with him. Leaving South Africa at such an age could be why his songs lack the assortment of local languages for which South African songs are known.
In 2007, Isakov self-released the album, That Sea, The Gambler, which was the third album of his music career. He earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album in 2019 with his 2018 album, Evening Machines.
Juxtaposing Isakov’s That Sea, The Gambler and Gambling
As we have already noted from the beginning, songs can take several nuances of meanings depending on who is listening, especially when they have transcendental lyrics for which Isakov is an expert. However, from the perspective we view Isakov’s That Sea, The Gambler, we see a song that reveals or betrays his deep knowledge of gambling. In this song, Isakov meticulously details how like love, gambling promises everything and nothing with equal energy.
Isakov masterfully combined extensive use of love and sailing metaphors in this song to paint the unappetizing definition of gambling. That Sea, The Gambler is so perfectly crafted that while we think that Isakov used loving to define gambling, we also think that he used gambling to define love. The sea sailing dimension to Isakov’s triangular song also defines love and gambling while allowing the two concepts to define it.
Depending on which concept you want to define, Isakov says in his triangular lyrics that loving is like gambling or that gambling is like love. He says that sailing is like gambling or that gambling is like sailing. He also says that loving is like sailing or that sailing is like love.
Most importantly, Isakov’s That Sea, The Gambler lyrics says that whichever of the three concepts you wish to define, and whichever of the concepts you’re using to define it, the meanings are the same. With loving, love is not promised in return; with sailing, you may never find shore, and with gambling, you may never hit jackpots. But like the gambler and the sailor, the lover never knows what the outcome of love could be until he first loves.
However, it may seem that the odds of love described in the song may be even more uncertain than the odds at a casino. Isakov’s pessimistic approach to the song, which also ended on a pessimistic note, almost inspires no hope for lovers.
Examining That Sea, The Gambler Lyrics
In the first verse of the song, Isakov talks about young love and its desire to be held close to the heart the way gamblers hold their precious cards. He went ahead to compare this love with the desire for sailing, saying that it is aimless at best. And although the lover, like a sailor, clutches his wheel and charts, his heart, like the sea, is only a gambling fool.
In the second verse, the song compares the freedom that love gives the lover to the beauty of the sun hitting a ship’s starboard. Despite this freedom, the lover searches for a definite meaning to his love the same way a sailor longs for the land. Again, the song compares these desires to gambling which one should approach with crossed fingers.
In the chorus, Isakov finally mentioned the name of his beloved – Mary. He calls her, saying love holds kings like him for her, who was once a queen to those too weary of loving.
We believe Isakov displayed his genius the most in the chorus of That Sea, The Gambler. We suspect that his use of Mary’s name was a subtle reference to Queen Mary I of England, who, according to history, loved gambling.
The greatest beauty of Isakov’s That Sea, The Gambler is the triangular consistency of the song idea in each verse and the chorus. They all carry references to the concepts of love, sailing, and gambling.